Hillsborough inquests in Warrington

The inquests into the deaths of 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster are to be held in Warrington, the coroner announced today.

PUBLISHED: 19:17, Mon, Sep 30, 2013

A Liverpool fan sits on the terraces at Hillsborough after the stadium disaster where 96 fans lost their lives. [PA]

Lord Justice Goldring has informed Hillsborough victims' relatives of his decision to hold the inquests, which are scheduled to start by March 31 next year, in the Cheshire town, with the precise location and venue to be provided "in due course".

The coroner, who had already decided to hold the inquest in the North West, made the decision after hearing conflicting arguments at a preliminary hearing earlier this year in support of holding the hearing in either the North West or London.

Britain's worst sporting disaster happened at Sheffield's Hillsborough stadium on April 15 1989 during Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest as thousands of fans were crushed on the ground's Leppings Lane terrace.

Last December, verdicts of accidental death from the original Hillsborough inquest in March 1991 were quashed.

The action was taken after the Hillsborough Independent Panel studied thousands of documents and reported that there had been a huge cover-up of what happened at Hillsborough and its aftermath.

A split emerged between two separate campaign groups earlier this year with one side pushing for the inquiry to be held in the capital and the other calling for it to take place in the North West.

Some 71 families from the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) want the hearing to be held in London, while a smaller group from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC) asked for it to take place in the North West outside of Liverpool or Manchester.

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